Freezing Tomatoes
 

I like the Drying and Canning Tomatoes forums. Does anyone (else) freeze tomatoes? I froze all of ours last summer. I think they are o.k., but Altheo doesn't like them at all. He wants to can tomatoes next year.

Does anyone have tips on freezing tomatoes, or is it just not done?

Freezing tomatoes is a wonderful way to capture the fresh tomato flavor quickly, though they are suitable for only certain uses. You also need a good amount of freezer space! My technique was simple - pick perfectly ripe tomatoes with no bad spots (preferably no severe cracks) - wash, dry, and put them in freezer bags in a single layer (or freeze them on a cookie sheet in a single layer then bag them in zip lock freezer bags).

For use, just run them under warm water, the skin slips off, cut out the core - and drop them into soups and stews. The flavor is great for up to a year - the texture goes south, so they really can't be used fresh.

We also can (into quarts) and use them all year in soups also. Canning is much more work than freezing for similar use - if I had a large freezer, I would likely freeze instead of can!

I purchased a Foodsaver vacuum sealer when my son came home with 100# of fresh tuna last year. It is excellent for freezing just about anything. For tomatoes, it is recommended to freeze the product first (so the liquid isn't sucked up into the machine), then vacuum seal in bags or glass jars. It will eliminate freezer burn and stay *like fresh* for much longer.

Corona~Barb

I'm really going to give this freezing maters a try this season ~ I'm yearning for soups and sauce this winter !!! lol ~ Tom

Thanks for the tips. I quartered them before freezing which was likely the prime cause of excess freezer burn. I don't know if I want to invest in a vacuum sealer -- yet, maybe this summers crop will convince me (always the optimist). There was a little room left in the freezer for other things. ;~)

My mom always had a big garden and canning tomatoes was a summer ritual, one I'd like to leave in the past. Yes, it's a hot, hot, hot job in August. I also have a fear of botulism.

My favorite way to eat them is to let them thaw, then mix them with fresh pasta. Having been frozen, this mix is more watery than fresh.

Thanks for the Tip
 

That's really interesting. Just freeze them whole. Most of winter we are eating soups, stews, curries, casseroles, that kind of thing. So frozen would be great. And now that I have shifted the dory out of the shed we have room and were only talking about getting a decent second fridge/freezer. :D Ta, Grub

I've frozen tomatoes whole for over a year and they still taste good in casseroles/chili. And this year, I can eliminate the freezer burn. :wink:

I tried some last year and they were ok for spagetti sauce etc, but the variety I used were inferior hybrid things. This year I have frozed 7 kilos so far of much better types, so I am hoping for better taste.

Instead of canning as many quarts of tomatoes as I have in years gone by, I have started freezing sauce. A friend from MN sent me a super easy recipe. Basically he roasted 20-30 # toms in a roaster with 5 # onions and 3 # celery and some basil. He didn't peel the tomatoes and slow cooked everything in the oven for 4 hours and then froze in bags. I tried a small oven batch last fall and will do more this year.

Jeanne

I cored and quartered the tomatoes I froze. I did not worry about the skin...as many said the skin would slip off upon thawing...which they did!

The frozen tomatoes have been a staple in the soups, stews and pasta dishes I've made this past winter. Every time my wife comments on the wonderful flavor of dishes due to the tomatoes...I have an opening with her to discuss expanding the garden!

I was planning on freezing whole tomatoes until I read in my Sunset Home Canning book the following:

"Freeze raw whole unpeeled tomatoes in rigid freezer containers for no longer than 2 to 3 weeks to use for cooking or seasoning."

2 or 3 weeks ????? that is just not long enough for me

also read this from Univ. Mo. extension:
"Tomatoes
Select firm, ripe tomatoes with deep red color. Frozen tomatoes will have a mushy texture when thawed and are suitable only for cooking, i.e. in soups, stews, spaghetti sauces, etc. In addition, tomatoes that are frozen raw become watery and develop an off-flavor after a short period in the freezer. Tomatoes that are too ripe for safe canning, but still sound and free from decay, can safely be frozen. "

it says they develop an off-flavor??? and use right away????

Not sure who to believe--most sites don't give a time limit. I saw one that said 8 months.

Corona Barb's idea of Food saver seems like a good one--surely they would be OK for longer periods if you vacuum-pak them. What do you think????????

MCP, I've never heard that about tomatoes developing an off taste in the freezer after just a few weeks. Maybe if you didn't wrap them tightly they'd pick up flavors from other foods?

Val

You know, I had tomatoes that I just stuck in freezer ziploc bags and threw in the freezer because I had so darn many. They were still good a year later (and longer).

Barb and Val, I don't understand how they came up with these short periods of time--I know other people have also said they keep them a long time in the freezer.

At any rate, I am now the proud owner of a Foodsaver -- I throw away a great deal of food --thought this might help. Got it yesterday so I will also use it on whole/half tomatoes too.

farkee,

Be sure to freeze the tomatoes individually first, as the liquid will get sucked up into the machine if you vacuum them fresh.

Also, there is a very helpful foodsavers group at yahoogroups with lots of good ideas and tips on how to use the machine. A company representative even is a member to help with difficulties. I would recommend checking it out. It has been extremely helpful to me.

[email]FoodSaver@yahoogroups.com[/email]

Barb, thanks for the info. A group of experienced people can be a great help--I know I have learned alot from the Harvest forum about canning so I will check out yahoo's FS group. :)

Alton Brown recommended using dry ice for freezing strawberries. Faster freeze time, smaller ice crystals, firmer fruit upon thawing. Wonder if it would work well for tomatos? I may have to try it this year. If I can get slightly firmer fruit upon thawing, I think it would nake better chunky style sauce, no?

laurel-tx

farkee,

I would no longer recommend that FS group. There's a real strange weirdo there who jumps down peoples' throats and the owners/mods tolerate him. I'm outta there!

Here's a new Food Saver/food preservation group that can answer questions and they expect everyone to be polite. :wink:

[email]FoodSaverPlus@yahoogroups.com[/email]

Barb

Hi folks. Thought I would pull this thread up again as tonight I got some of my frozen tommys out and made a spag bol sauce with them. Just filled up the small sink with hot water from the tap and dropped them in. Left them while I chopped up an onion then pulled them out, peels fell off, cut out core bits and into the pot. Added the usual ingredients and meatballs. The flavour was fresh and wonderful.
The homemade pasta with fresh eggs was gosh darnoodley good as well :lol:

Freezing eggplant
 

Can it be done ? I'm growing more than my 2 plants this year and i don't have a dehydrator (yet!!) so i was wondering if it could be put up in the freezer ?

Try this,
[url]http://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/mod01/01600697.html[/url]

Worth

Thanks Worth now i'll be able to have eggplant in the winter!

Your welcome Richard,
I have most of the answers right off of the top of my head but I like to post links to MSU or other reputable sites.
That way it won’t be a wives tale from a hillbilly.
The fruit fresh or citric acid is to keep the food from oxidizing and turning black.
NOT COOL!!
You have to work fast with egg plant.
A trick I use is to lay the stuff I don’t want to stick together out on wax paper in the freezer and let it get semi frozen.
I then put it/them in a zip lock bag, in this way you don’t have anything stuck together.
You can just pick out what you want and seal the bag back up.
I do this with fish, tomatoes, shrimp, pork chops, and just about every thing.
With soups and such you can fill the freezer bag about half full and remove the air.
Then lay the bags down flat and let them freeze.
Then it all goes into the large NOT frost free chest type freezer.
Of course I’m lucky enough to have two refrigerators and one large chest freezer.
It lasts for a very long time.
No worries!
Too bad we can’t freeze melons and have them come out fresh. :(

Worth

I was thinking about using the Dry Ice Method that Alton Brown use to freeze strawberry's.

get and Ice chest and fill the bottom and put dry ice in there. it would freeze the maters (strawberrys) faster. I will see if I can find it for you.

here is what the foodnetwork page says.

[QUOTE]1 quart strawberries, de-stemmed
1 (3 pound) block dry iceWash strawberries and place in a paper towel-lined colander. Cover with another paper towel and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Break your dry ice into small pieces, and toss with berries in a large bowl. Place into a container and cover with a towel. Place this in a cooler for 25 to 30 minutes. Remove berries and put into sealable bags and store in the freezer.
[/QUOTE]

I am still trying to find a video on youtube.

hmmmm... I'm curious about the dry ice method... seems like it would "burn" the tomatoes (or strawberries) if it came into direct contact... Did you ever try it?

I used Roma's in the food savers last year, i just put 4-6 clean ones in a bag and froze the bag, then opened the bag to get 1-2 and close the bag with food saves again. Nice

[quote=shlacm;174638]hmmmm... I'm curious about the dry ice method... seems like it would "burn" the tomatoes (or strawberries) if it came into direct contact... Did you ever try it?[/quote]

No way it would burn the berries. My company sells liquid nitrogen to shrimpers - they freeze the shrimp right on the boats. Considering LIN is at -196 deg Celsius and solid CO2 is at -78 deg Celsius, I can't see a problem.

It is known that liquid nitrogen produces a superior frozen product as it flash freezes foods retaining more moisture and not giving time for ice crystals to form which pierce cell walls and degrade the food. However it is more expensive than "mechanical" refrigeration (like using a conventional Freon type freezer with a compressor)

Just think about it - typical fruit goes in at room temp - 25 C. Normal freezer is 0 deg C. We all know from basic engineering that heat flux is proportional to delta T - that is why it costs more to heat your house in the dead of winter than a cool fall day.

Conventional freezer - delta T is 25 C
Dry ice - delta T is 105 C
LIN delta T is 225 C

Thus LIN has the capability of freezing 10x faster. I make ice cream in 5 minutes using LIN.

We have never tried freezing whole tomatos or even quartered ones. Maybe they will taste more like fresh.
We dump our toms into boiling hot water for a minute or so to split the peel, Then cool quickly. Peeling slips right off easily. We then cube them and pareboil a few minutes before dipping into freezer bags. We have found 3 yr old bags in the bottom of the chest freezer that had slight freezer burn but still made excellent spaghetti.
My frozen tomatoes taste almost identical to canned, not like the fresh which may be what was meant by "Off Taste" .

Me too. The best to freeze are plums tomatoes. I'll pop a few out and throw them in my lunch salad in the am--by lunch time the tomatoes have defrosted and mixed with the oil and vinegar in the salad--no texture of course--but great fresh tomato flavor. I've concluded that with the others, it is best to cook them down and freeze. In April and May, when I am crazy for a fresh tomato, I pour the cooked-down tomatoes on my eggs--on cheese sandwiches to toast--into my salad...now where is my straw???

I froze and canned tomatoes last year. The frozen ones are good in soups and Mexican dishes. I made spaghetti sauce using canned tomatoes and my wife and I loved that spaghetti!